jimnyc
08-03-2012, 01:37 PM
How in the world can someone file 2,137 return to the SAME address and the IRS didn't catch this? I thought they were supposed to have computerized checks in place to prevent this kind of stuff? Another in Chicago had 765 returns totaling nearly a million dollars. The advanced cheating I can understand, and that takes time - but nearly 3,000 returns to 2 addresses and that's not caught? And holy crap, look at Florida! Looks like the retirees down there are busy!
The IRS is paying out billions of dollars in fraudulent tax refunds to identity thieves; a problem that the tax service's inspector general told CNBC is a "growing problem" involving numbers that are increasing "exponentially."
In a new report issued Thursday, the inspector general for the IRS says that tax thieves are stealing the identities of taxpayers and then filing bogus returns on their behalf and collecting fraudulent refunds as a result.
The inspector general estimates that the IRS could issue as much as $21 billion in fraudulent tax refunds over the next five years.
The scam is so rampant that thieves are apparently sending in false returns in bulk without even bothering to change the mailing address on the returns. The inspector general said it found one residential address in Lansing, Michigan that was the source of an astonishing 2,137 tax returns, and to which the IRS directed more than $3.3 million in potentially fraudulent refunds.
In another case, a single residential address in Chicago was the source of 765 tax returns, generating more than $900,000 in potentially fraudulent refunds, the report said.
"Once the money is out the door, it is almost impossible to get it back," IRS inspector general J. Russell George told CNBC. "The bad guys know that the IRS is unable, given the limited number of its staff it has, to address every single allegation of tax fraud it has."
The report said the identity theft scam is most prevalent in Florida, with two cities, Tampa and Miami, topping the list of potentially fraudulent claims. Tampa saw 88,724 potentially fraudulent returns filed, generating refunds of more than $468 million. And Miami saw 74,496 potentially fraudulent returns generating more than $280 million in possibly bogus returns.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/tax-scam-irs-pays-billions-151756498.html
The IRS is paying out billions of dollars in fraudulent tax refunds to identity thieves; a problem that the tax service's inspector general told CNBC is a "growing problem" involving numbers that are increasing "exponentially."
In a new report issued Thursday, the inspector general for the IRS says that tax thieves are stealing the identities of taxpayers and then filing bogus returns on their behalf and collecting fraudulent refunds as a result.
The inspector general estimates that the IRS could issue as much as $21 billion in fraudulent tax refunds over the next five years.
The scam is so rampant that thieves are apparently sending in false returns in bulk without even bothering to change the mailing address on the returns. The inspector general said it found one residential address in Lansing, Michigan that was the source of an astonishing 2,137 tax returns, and to which the IRS directed more than $3.3 million in potentially fraudulent refunds.
In another case, a single residential address in Chicago was the source of 765 tax returns, generating more than $900,000 in potentially fraudulent refunds, the report said.
"Once the money is out the door, it is almost impossible to get it back," IRS inspector general J. Russell George told CNBC. "The bad guys know that the IRS is unable, given the limited number of its staff it has, to address every single allegation of tax fraud it has."
The report said the identity theft scam is most prevalent in Florida, with two cities, Tampa and Miami, topping the list of potentially fraudulent claims. Tampa saw 88,724 potentially fraudulent returns filed, generating refunds of more than $468 million. And Miami saw 74,496 potentially fraudulent returns generating more than $280 million in possibly bogus returns.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/tax-scam-irs-pays-billions-151756498.html